Sociedade Brasileira de Espectrometria de Massas – BrMASS
Environmental Analysis
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in volatile fraction of urban air in
Rio dos Sinos basin
Larissa Meincke*1, Nicolas Stenier1, Carin von Mühlen1.
*[email protected]
1. ICET, Universidade FEEVALE – ERS 239, 2755, Novo Hamburgo, RS – Brazil;
Due to the rapid growth of industrial activities, population and traffic density,
people in Rio dos Sinos basin are facing serious air pollution problems observed in
other places[1]. Combustion sources are responsible to account for over 90% of the
environmental burden of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), since PAHs are
mainly produced by combustion processes such as biomass burning, oil combustion,
coal combustion and wood combustion[2]. The distribution of these compounds in the
atmosphere is related to their physicochemical properties, may be present in both the
gas phase and in the particulate phase. Most of the work presented in the literature is
related to PAHs quantification in particulate fractions[3]. Commercial systems used for
sampling of high volumes of atmospheric air are difficult to be installed, since it needs
a safe place with a power source, to allow 24h of air sampling. On the other hand,
portable air samplers used for occupational health monitoring did not present these
disadvantages, but the volume of air sampled is significantly lower. The objective of
the present study was to optimize an analytical methodology using portable air
samplers for urban air monitoring of PAHs associated with gas chromatography with
quadrupole mass spectrometry(GC/qMS) in the single ion monitoring mode, in order to
achieve the quantification limits for external air monitoring. For this experiments, it was
used a mixture of 16 PAHs (Sigma-Aldrish), XAD-2 tubes in PAS-100 Sampler
(Supelco), with several extraction solvents. The detection of compounds was
performed in a GC/qMS Clarus 680 from Perkin Elmer with an RTX Sil-5MS column with
dimensions 30 m
0.25 mm
0.25 m from Restek. The MS operated in the SCAN
and Single Ion Monitoring intermittent, in order to allow the simultaneous qualitative
analysis of other compounds. With the developed method, minimum concentration in
the range of 25,0 ng m-3 and 500 ng m-3 where achieved in the analytical calibration
constructed in triplicate of five concentration levels. Correlation coeficients from 0.9811
to 0.9987 where achieved, with exception of indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene, where the
correlation coefficient was 0.9778. The method was applied to 8 atmospheric air
samples collected during 8 hours in the urban region of Rio dos Sinos basin, in the
cities of Campo Bom, Sapucaia do Sul, and Canoas in Rio Grande do Sul State.
Naphthalene, acenaphthylene, and acenaphthene, were quantified in all samples, while
other PAHs were detected below the calibration range of the method.
[1] YANG, K-L. Atmos. Environ. 2002, 36 (21), 3403-3411.
[2] KIM, J. Y. et al. Atmos. Res. 2012, 116, 142-150.
[3] DALLAROSA, J. B. et al. Atmos. Environ. 2005, 39, 1609-1625.
5º Congresso BrMass – 07 a 11 de Dezembro de 2013